Elementary school can be stressful for your little student. But it doesn't have to be. To help you organize an elementary school student, I put together my favorite tips and had my fellow Professional Organizers community share their thoughts as well. I hope it helps your child feel less stressed on their first school days.
Jump to:
- Set up a student study area for your student.
- Have a place in your student's backpack for papers to go back and forth from school.
- Have a system in place to help you manage the incoming school papers.
- Create a weekly paper sorter in your command station.
- Organize Elementary School Student Tips from Professional Organizers
- Great Keepsake Apps and Websites to Help Organize Elementary School Students and their Parents.
Set up a student study area for your student.
It could be the dining room table or a table in their living room. Wherever it is, make sure to have all the school supplies they may need nearby and organized. Here is a school supplies caddy DIY project I created for my kids and have used it for years.
Visit our guest post for tips: EFFECTIVE WAYS TO OVERCOME YOUR CHILD'S STUDYING PROBLEMS by Leslie Josel from Order Out of Chaos.
Below are some easy and affordable DIY things you can make to help your child have a well-organized study space.
HOW TO UPCYCLE PLANTERS INTO A DESK PENCIL HOLDER
UPCYCLING CANDLE JAR INTO A CUTE MARKER HOLDER
TRANSFORMING A PLANTER INTO A COMMAND STATION ORGANIZER
HOW TO CHANGE A PLAIN SOUP CAN INTO A GORGEOUS DIY PENCIL HOLDER
HOW TO MAKE A DESK ORGANIZER ON THE CHEAP
Below are some desks from Amazon (Affiliate Link) that will fit in a smaller home. All have some sort of storage and can be assembled. Check the size of your space and make sure it will fit before buying your child's desk.
Children's Desk with Chair, Bulletin Board and Cabinets, White
Buy Now →
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → (Affiliate Link)
Have a place in your student's backpack for papers to go back and forth from school.
Sometimes, the kindergarten and first-grade teachers provide a folder. If your teacher doesn't, ensure your student knows where to put the papers for homework and school communication. It can be a plain folder or a folder with pockets.
When they return home from school, having a place for their backpacks is also important. A cubby system or hooks in the closet work great for younger children.
Cubby or locker systems (Affiliate Link) work great for backpacks and other things. These I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link) can easily be stored in an installed garage (Affiliate Link), mudroom, or foyer. The best place to have these units is near the most frequently used door into the house. If you can't place it there, pick a place where the kids naturally drop their things when they enter the home. Changing their systems will take them much longer to learn the new drop zone for their things.
Locker Cubbies 2-Section Coat Locker with Bench
Buy Now →
Locker Cubbies ClosetMaid KidSpace Wooden, 2 Cubby
Buy Now →
Locker Cubbies Streamline 3-Section Toddler Coat
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
Have a system in place to help you manage the incoming school papers.
This could be a filing cabinet (Affiliate Link) or just a portable accordion folder (Affiliate Link). Click on the image below to see my paper filing system.
Create a weekly paper sorter in your command station.
This would be a place for weekly paperwork that needs to be taken to school or in a backpack. I created a few of these current weekly organizers. You can check them out to see if they work for you. Click below to see how I made this DIY weekly paper sorter that can be easily made.
Here's another weekly paper sorter I created out of large wood clothespins.
Check out a command station DIY idea: HOW TO MAKE A DIY COMMAND STATION MAGNET BOARD
If you have a desk in your kitchen, using something that will organize your kids papers will help you manage them better. Below are some I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link) (affiliate).
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Scrapbook Paper Organizer 12x12-7 Tier File Organizer
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
Not only do you have to organize the papers at home, but you need to instill good habits in your elementary school kids while they are still learning how to manage their time and stuff. Below, other Professional Organizers and I are sharing our favorite tips for organizing elementary school students.
Organize Elementary School Student Tips from Professional Organizers
The first tip is from Linda Clevenger.
"This is probably not your typical tip - but I feel that being an organized parent is one of the best lessons that we can teach our children. Elementary are students are totally impressionable and will follow our lead in the areas of time/schedule management. Some of the things we put into place when she went off to Kindergarten were - Consistency in storing: backpacks, shoes (Affiliate Link), jackets, and lunch boxes (Affiliate Link) every day. Creating routines will save everyone time, frustration, and stress. And, it helps create organizational habits at a young age." ~Linda Clevenger from Organization Direct
This tip is from Daria Harvey.
"Have a homework caddy and school supplies at the ready wherever your child does homework. Mine worked at the kitchen table, so I had a three-drawer Sterilite organizer in my pantry (Affiliate Link) for paper, scissors, pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, index cards, etc. It saves time and stresses not having to search for what they need to do their homework and projects. I'd also say it's so handy to have a place in the refrigerator and in the pantry (Affiliate Link) for kid snacks and lunch items. This way, they can help prepare their own lunches. Teaching independence is so important." ~ Daria Harvey
The third tip is from Jonda Beattie.
"Always keep graded school work until the end of each grading period. If there is a question about a grade, you have something to carry into the conference. At the end of each grading period, cull most of the work, keeping only the best." ~ Jonda Beattie from Time Space Organization
The last organized elementary school student tip is from Liana George
"Create a landing pad near your main entry/exit door for backpacks, shoes (Affiliate Link), lunch boxes (Affiliate Link), and other activity-related items. This way, everyone will know where things are, and they won’t be searching around the house looking for lost or misplaced items. Near your landing pad, have a master checklist (Affiliate Link) for the kids to check before leaving each day. The list can include: Do you have your homework, signed papers, lunchbox, lunch money, after-school activity/necessities, keys, gym clothes (Affiliate Link), band instruments?" ~ Liana George
Feel free to share the images above to share these great tips!
There are so many things that happen during the school year that you may want to keep; we are sharing a few apps to help you stay organized with all those keepsake items.
Visit our back-to-school student challenge for a compressive step-by-step guide to get your child organized.
Great Keepsake Apps and Websites to Help Organize Elementary School Students and their Parents.
Below are two apps to help you organize your students' memories:
Cool Product - Artkive App post by Stacey Agin Murray - A really neat app to help you manage all your elementary school students' artwork. See how Stacey used it.
Review of Keepy App To Organize Kids Momentos by Sabrina Quairoli - this app gives you different opportunities to organize your kids' stuff. See how I used it.
I hope this post helps you and your children stay organized this school year.
Labeling made fun! The website below, Mabel's Labels (Affiliate Link), customizes labels (Affiliate Link) to help them look cute, are affordable, and help your kids enjoy labeling their own stuff. (affiliate)
Do you have any tips you want to share? Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you.
Below are Amazon (Affiliate Link) (affiliate) links. If you click through and buy something on Amazon (Affiliate Link), I will receive a small referral fee at no cost! Happy shopping!
Visit our other elementary school-age kid posts for more tips:
Janet Schiesl says
Great variety of tips for returning to school. Thanks for sharing.
Julie Bestry says
This is a great way to start the school year. My friend sent me a "first day of school" photo of her boys (one in middle school, one in pre-K) this morning, and it called to mind all of the advice you covered.
The one additional suggestion I'd make: that place in the backpack for sending documents back and forth to school? Make it a poly envelope rather than a paper folder or envelope. Kids are rough on their stuff, and thermoses (and all sorts of other things) spill and tear and tumble. Poly envelopes can keep the paper protected until it gets where its going.
Sabrina Quairoli says
Great idea, Julie! Poly envelopes also work great for high school students who need to manage assignments. They are super hard on paper too.
Janet Barclay says
I like the idea of setting up a study area in the dining room. Kids often don't want to work in their bedrooms but be out where everything is going on, and that's a happy medium between isolation and doing homework in front of the TV.
Laura says
Great tips as always! Starting them off organized (and having them be a part of the process) in elementary school helps create good life long habits for school organization. Students that don't learn these skills really start to struggle when they get to late middle school and high school so it's definitely best to start young! 🙂
Sabrina Quairoli says
I agree, Laura. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. =)
Diane N Quintana says
These are fabulous tips. My favorite is having a place in the backpack for papers to come home or to return to school. So often they are a crumpled mess at the bottom of the bag. When I taught Kindergarten I gave each child a folder with two pockets. Early in the school year we put the papers to go home into the folder together as a group so that children who needed help with this skill received it.
Sabrina Quairoli says
Thanks for commenting, Diane! I love that my child had teachers like you. At that age, organizing skills are primarily taught by doing, not telling.
Seana Turner says
Today is the first day of school in my town. Definitely time to read this and get organized.
I have noticed that fewer papers are going back and forth than used to be common when my children are little. Now they all have teacher website and so much is online. I'm not sure this is a good thing, but it is happening.
At least in elementary school you still do get artwork, maps to color in, math worksheets, etc. I liked seeing the paper each day because it gave me a chance to see what my kids had been working on.
Sabrina Quairoli says
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Seana. I agree that having the paperwork and other things come home during elementary school does help parents understand how the child is doing and what they are learning so the parent can easily install these skills throughout the rest of the week.
I also don't know if having the child's teacher share content on a website benefits the child or the parent. I know many parents who never visited their child's teacher's page, and when there is a problem, the parent scramble for help.